Ryan Onusko 'loved to laugh'

It might have been his fascination with "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin or survivalist Bear Grylls.

Whatever the reason, Ryan Onusko loved animals and the great outdoors.

"We've always had dogs since the time both of my boys were really young," his father, Dave Onusko, said. "Dogs were his favorite, but he was always interested in animals."

After years of living with a schwannoma, a benign tumor in his brain that caused migraine headaches, Ryan Onusko of Milton died June 14, 2013, from an accidental overdose of prescribed painkillers. He was 20.

His family is left with memories of a kid who soaked up nature, history and sports.

The young Onusko would sit spellbound, watching televised adventures from the wild come to life in his Ulster County living room.

"He loved to watch the Discovery Channel as a child, and he was interested in anything nature-oriented," his father said — "going off into the jungles and the mountains, with all the different animals they might focus on — even whales or something like that.

"If he wasn't watching the Discovery Channel, he was watching the History Channel. He was a real student of history. He really enjoyed that."

When he wasn't soaking up as much information as he could absorb, Ryan had a bat in his hands and a love of baseball in his heart.

"Like so many kids, he started at the T-ball," said his father, Marlboro High School's longtime baseball coach who led the Iron Dukes to the state title game in 2003, eight years before Ryan graduated. "He was in the stands in 2003, watching all that."

As a pitcher and first baseman, Ryan played for his dad's Dukes from 2009-2011.

Whether he collected three base hits and scored three runs at the plate, or allowed six runs in one inning on the mound, the younger Onusko knew he had support at home.

"I treated him, at that moment — in games and at practice — like every other member of the team," Dave Onusko said. "But on the ride home, in the car, it was open to conversation, if he chose. It was always open to him."

But more than animals and nature, more than baseball and history, "his sense of humor" defined Ryan, his father said.

"He loved to laugh," said Dave Onusko. "Having two boys and being involved in sports, there were wisecracks at home — nothing off-color — but that was always there. Busting chops was normal, every day in the house."

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